Whiting Street Reservoir Spillway
The is only for the overflow of water. (LOCATION) It enters over the small dam and is channeled until it meets the water coming from the control house. The spillway is 78 feet from the south end of the dam. The first spillway was 16 feet and 8 inches and was 2 feet 6 inches in height. A second spillway was added to that one.
October 18-19 1955 Holyoke experienced the greatest rainstorm that has ever hit New England. 19 inches of rain fell on this part of the city within 24 hours. This was the rain from Hurricane Diane that had come up the Hudson River and then passed over the mountains of Western and Central Massachusetts. Holyoke Water Works feared that the dam would collapse during the height of the rain. It activated an emergency pipe (12-inch diameter) that is still visible in the berm of the dam (about 40 feet from this spillway). This led to Hastings Brook and then to a larger pipe (36-inch pipe) that parallels the entrance roadway. This pipe once led all water from the spillway, the emergency pipe, and from Hastings Brook 488 feet downhill into the concrete structure at the intersection with Roaring Brook. However, the Lower Intake Reservoir was overwhelmed and a flood of water cascaded down Whiting Street Road to Northampton Street. The intersection there was destroyed.
Holyoke Reservoir System after the 1955 Hurricane
About 50 feet south of the spillway is an emergency road that was put in place in 1939. This gave workers another access road from the Intake Reservoir area to the spillway area. This spillway was fixed in the year 2023. It has a 1000 year floor spillway put in.
